10 of the best Andre 3000 verses from 1994-2000.

While Big Boi has fully embraced a solo career, Andre 3000 has kept to the shadows, appearing only once or twice a year to remind everyone that he is one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) rappers of all-time, and can still paint vivid and complex lyrical portraits with ease. "My oral illustration be like clitoral stimulation."

This list primarily revisits the four albums Outkast albums released from 1994-2000 Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, ATLiens, Aquemini, & Stankonia. Click through to listen to Andre's best verses from that era.

Honorable Mention

"Aint No Thang""Synthesizer""Da Art of Storytelling Part 2"

"D.E.E.P." (2nd verse)

A 18-year-old Andre dishes wisdom, critiquing consumer culture and popular perceptions of the hood. Off Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik... which earned Outkast "Best Newcomer" -- and a shower of boos -- at the 1995 Source Awards.

Quotables

Oh, step in my Cadillac, let's ride through the hoodEh, why don't you roll that window down so you can see it real goodAnd take a look at all the pimps and all the pushers and the playersThat's living on a whim, thin ice and a prayer

Goodie Mob - "Though Process" feat. Andre 3000

Like elevators but I ain't the one that's pushin' the buttonsI got off at the 13th floor, when they told me that it wasn't oneThey said it skipped from 12 to 14Still smoking, still drinkingNo I'm sittin' on the Lincoln 4 AM thinkingThat in reality the world is like a ball full of playersWe trapped off in this maze with walls made of layers

"Elevators (Me & You)" (2nd verse)

Andre argues that the daily struggle and the burdens of life are almost universal. There's a reason this song was the last thing we heard in the first season of 'Atlanta.'

Quotables

And I replied that I had been going through the same things that he hadTrue, I've got more fans than the average manBut not enough loot to last meTo the end of the week, I live by the beatLike you live check-to-checkIf it don't move your feet then I don't eatSo we like neck-to-neckYes, we done come a long way like them slim-ass cigarettesFrom Virginia, this ain't gon' stop, so we just gon' continue

"ATLiens" (1st verse)

Andre meditates on the plight of black folk and concludes that the only solution is to "throw your hands to the aye-yer."

Quotables

The future of the world depends onIf or if not the child we raise gon have that nigga syndromeOr will it know to beat the odds regardless of the skin tone?Or will it feel that if we tune it, it just might get picked on?Or will it give a fuck about what others say and get gone?

"Babylon" (1st verse)

Andre talks about his mother, who was addicted to drugs when pregnant with him, and puts the drug use and insecurities of individual Americas in the context of the almighty power of The Man. "I fear the battle's just begun"...

Quotables

I came into this world high as a birdFrom second hand cocaine powderI know it sounds absurdI never tooted but its in my veinsWhile the rest of the country bungies off bridgesWithout no snap backAnd bitches they say they need thatTo shake they fannies in theAss clubs

"13th Floor/Growing Old" (1st verse)

Andre gets hit with severe wave of nostalgia while driving through his native East Point.

Quotables

SupposeWe rolls through Headland and DeloweWhere me and my niggas would pass the flowAnd got down for ours like hind catchersMy mind catches flashbacks to the black pastWhile mind close niggas laugh atThe Southern slang, finger waves and Mojo chicken wangsI grew up on booty shake we did not know no better thang

"Return of the G"

After taking a philosophical turn on ATLiens,Andre returns to rapping about gangsterism, albeit from an entirely different angle than his vantage point on Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.

Quotables

Return of the gangsta, thanks ta'Them niggas that think you softAnd say y'all be gospel rappin'But they be steady clappin' when you talk aboutBitches, and switches, and hoes, and clothes, and weedLet's talk about time travelin', rhyme javelinSomethin' mind unravelin', get down

"Aquemini" (2nd verse)

Andre ponders systems of faith, reconciling the twin personalities native to any Gemini.

Shoutout his other 'Aquemini" verse, which is also great.

Quotables

Sin all depends on what you believing inFaith is what you make it, that's the hardest shit since MC RenAlien can blend right on in with your kinLook again, cause I swear I spot one every now and thenIt's happening again, wish I could tell you when

"Da Art of Storytelling Part 1"

Andre shows off his storytelling chops, casually recalling the tale of a young love from his past who would later die of a heroin overdose. So it goes...

Quotables

But in spite of all of the bullshit we on our back staring at the stars aboveTalking bout what we gonna be when we grow upI said what you wanna be, she said, "Alive"It made me think for a minute, then looked in her eyesI could have died, time went on, I got grownRhyme got strong, mind got blown, I came back homeTo find lil' Sasha was goneHer mamma said she with a nigga that be treating her wrong

"Bombs Over Baghdad" (1st verse)

Andre thumps his chest and eventually delves into the woes of life in the hood that "make a nigga wanna stay on tour for days" before encouraging folks back home to take it easy on themselves. "Hello, ghetto, let your brain breathe."

Quotables

Inslumnational, undergroundThunder pounds when I stomp the groundLike a million elephants and silverback orangutansYou can't stop a train